The Simplicity Index

Yesterday, brand consultancy Siegel + Gale released its annual “Global Brand Simplicity Index.” The online survey of over 10,000 respondents in seven countries sought to determine which businesses customers perceived simple — from making their life simple, to understanding the brand’s simple message, to the way the brands made every interaction simpler (full methodology, here).

“In a world clouded with complexity, simplicity stands out,” Siegel + Gale’s study begins. “Simplicity inspires deeper trust and greater loyalty in customers, and clears the way to innovation for employees.”

This perfectly captures what we’re after for our customers’ BPM experiences. I’m not declaring victory, just pointing to the goal state- to make this stuff easy for our customers, and to take care of the complexity ourselves.

And how does simplicity affect customer satisfaction, you ask?

Of the 92 global brands covered in the survey, the highest ranking travel brand is Hilton in 34th place (672). The world’s least-simple global brand for the second year in a row is low-cost carrier Ryanair, which the report describes as “seen as intentionally deceitful in its promises and pricing.”

Contrast Ryanair with Southwest and you get the picture of what it means to do simplicity well. It isn’t in conflict with a budget experience.

But this isn’t just about BP3. This is a message to our customers. If you simplify experiences for your customers, better satisfaction (and likely profits) will follow: “For simpler experiences, people would pay up to 5.9% more”.